Chelsea Handler opens up about having abortions as a teen
Chelsea Handler has no regrets when it comes to the two abortions she underwent when she was 16.
The comedian and Netflix talk-show host penned an essay for Playboy's "Freedom" issue about the controversial topic, speaking frankly about her own experiences and how thankful she is that she had the option.
"Like millions of women, I can live my life without an unplanned child born out of an unhealthy relationship because of Roe v. Wade," Handler wrote. "It's infuriating to hear politicians make bogus promises about overturning this ruling that has protected us for more than 40 years."
Handler recounted her own experiences of being a teenager who was angry at her parents and having unprotected sex with her boyfriend. "I wasn't really playing with a full deck of cards, and when I got pregnant I just thought, 'Why not? I can have a baby,'" she recalled. "Maybe I'll have twins and give them rhyming names!"
Handler's parents took her to Planned Parenthood instead -- and they did again when, later that same year, she became pregnant again by the same boyfriend.
"We all make mistakes all the time," she wrote. "I happened to f**k up twice at the age of 16. I'm grateful that I came to my senses and was able to get an abortion legally without risking my health or bankrupting myself or my family. I'm 41 now. I don't ever look back and think, 'God, I wish I'd had that baby.'"
Handler acknowledged, though, that the contentious nature of the abortion debate would probably never go away.
"I doubt this is something America will ever agree on," she wrote. "It's like racism and sexism: People will be racist if they're innately built that way, but whether they can act on their racism or not is a separate issue. There are people who think women shouldn't hold high-powered positions, or who think Obama is Muslim, and it's OK for them to have those thoughts -- they just can't act on them in a civilized society."
"It's okay if you think it's not right for women to have abortions -- but it's not your problem, because we decide."